[jevs]

My machine requires that the first 4 parameters for the machine be injected through the tape reader. This machine lost it's memory because the battery went dead. I can punch in all the other parameters manually, but the manual states that these 4 must be tape fed *sigh*. I have a tape that is in a film canister that says "parameter" written on a piece of masking tape. How can I tell if this is actually the parameter tape that I need? I tried loading it, but had no luck getting it to work. I want to bypass the tapedrive and use a computer, but I think I will still need to inject these parameters with a tape . I don't know what these parameters are for either. Is there a way to get one of these tapes or possibly interface with a computer and inject them that way? I have not messed with this for about a year, but now I have caught the machining bug and I got this machine from my dad. He bought it from Kansas University. It was a teaching machine and appears to have hardly any machining time. I want to try to get the machine up and running in stock form and see what she can do and then go from there. I have had this machine for about 2 days and already learned so much stuff my brain is sore from reading on the internet

[bthomps5]

is it a fanuc 5t?

[jevs]

I am unsure of the t. All I know is what Fanuc told me. They just said Fanuc 5 controller. Nothing in any of my manuals puts a number to the controller. At this point I am pretty sure I am just pulling the Fanuc stuff and selling. I am going to try Mach2 and some new drivers.

[william timm]

If you can find a serial tape reader you can load the tape into a computer. Years ago I made loads of parammeter tapes for Amada we then put the tape on the server loaded them into the BTR and sent them to the Fanuc control.
If the tape were placed on a scanner and emailed to me I could see what type of data is on it. You could get a EIA/ASCII/ISO and Binary chart and read the tape also.
Bill Timm
William Timm Computers.